We haven’t had a Word of the Day for a while – it’s a practice we’re trying to restart, now that we’ve resettled from being back in the U.S. Some words can tell us a lot about our cultural practices and what we value… these words make language-learning important and fun!

Today’s word is a timely example:

prezuť [preh – zoot]
(to change shoes)

This little word simply means “to change shoes” – like I did today when I went running. But the word has a couple of connotations that are uniquely European/Slovak:

prezuť zimné pneumatiky
(change out winter tires)

Today I took our car to a local tire shop to have the tires changed for the season. Here you have to have two sets of tires for your car – an all-weather set and a winter set that you’re required (by law) to have on the car from mid-November to mid-March. The winter tires have a different tread and are more flexible in cold conditions. When you have these tires changed back-and-forth, you prezuť them. It’s like your car is changing shoes.

prezuť sa
(put on inside shoes)

You also sometimes use this word to talk about changing from outdoor shoes to indoor shoes. Some of you may have visited in European or Asian homes where it’s common to take your shoes off at the door, and change into slippers or house-shoes. This is common in schools, too – our girls have special inside shoes at school, which they must put on before they enter their classrooms.